Thierry Henry may think Olivier Giroud is not good enough to lead Arsenal to the title, but that hasn’t stopped the HFB asserting his belief that the Gunners can mount a serious championship challenge next season.
Arsene Wenger’s men have been the Premier League’s form side in 2015, however, for all their hard graft since January they’ve only narrowed the gap between themselves and Chelsea by four points.
Despite the seemingly insurmountable ten point chasm that continues to separate Jose Mourinho’s men from Arsenal and Manchester City, Giroud is positive that less injuries and a couple of new faces will ensure a proper shot at top spot next time.
“Hopefully if we can have less injuries, keep the same group and with maybe one or two new players, we will have a great season [next year],” Giroud told Arsenal.com.
“We have to finish this one first, and to get second and win the FA Cup would be a great season. It has been a few years since we finished second and if we can do it we can see an improvement, which is great.
“But the championship is not finished, which is why we need to focus in the last five games to keep second place.
“I know we can still improve ourselves and that is what we have been doing since I signed for Arsenal. I am proud about it and pleased with that.
“I just want to carry on like that, and I know if we keep our best players and this determination with the team spirit, we are going to join [next season’s title] race.”
As if to emphasise the solidarity in the current squad, Francis Coquelin has leapt to the defence of Giroud by dismissing Henry’s recent comments about the striker.
“Thierry Henry is wrong,” the midfielder told French radio station RMC. “Giroud shows his potential every week. He showed that he has the level to be the Arsenal striker, and we can win titles with him.
“We are disappointed with the result against Chelsea because we were on a good run.
“Now the target is to focus on the end of the championship, win all the remaining matches to get this second place, and of course win the FA Cup final.”
I personally liked Coquelin’s opinion
It’s nice to see him defending our players. We’ve taken quite a lot of flack in recent weeks, Jose, Theirry and Owen all making inflamitory comments designed to provoke controversy. We just have to prove them wrong next season on the pitch. No summer tournament and a few choice additions will give us a chance to make them eat their words.
Le Coq for PM!
He couldn’t be any worse than the shower of bastards we’ve got standing for election. Plus I seriously doubt that Cameron, Miliband or Clegg have the first idea about properly screening the back four and launching counter-attacks against the run of play.
It’d be worth it just to wind up Farage and his fellow racists.
“Coq sticks up for Giroud”
Sorry!
Giroud’s top quality and a good part of the squad no doubt. I don’t think TH was saying differently really. What I think he is right about is that we need more than just Giroud. If Welbeck comes good fine, that might be us sorted. But what we are really crying out for is a speedy poacher. Someone who can offer something different to what Giroud offers. Somebody in the Lacazette kind of mold (not saying him necessarily – just that sort of player). We can win the league with Giroud but I think it’s a big ask to win… Read more »
It seems plausible that Thierry made his comments about Giroud to motivate him. Thierry is a smart man and surely is careful with his words. I have doubts he would tear Giroud down in public just to gain points as a pundit. He’s still an Arsenal legend and a self proclaimed fan.
Not sure of Thierry’s credibility as the potential next manager of Arsenal – he seems to have been washed into the “buy your league title” philosophy – identifying, signing and inculcating 4 players ‘directly’ into the first team would take several years and may never be successful. In fact it wont be successful on its own – Mourinho’s model is to buy several first team players as well as nearly every young player in europe which he then loans out to stop his competitors getting them Eddie Howe shows us you can achieve extraordinary things with below ordinary players. Wenger… Read more »
perhaps it’s only sensible to reflect that TH14 has an obligation to his paymasters at Sky to express robust, preferably controversial and headline-grabbing opinion. Which it would seem that he has done here. the fact that former human centipede Gary Neville has now turned into current thinking man’s pundit and all-round top analyst Gary Neville equally suggests that you could do a job by providing well constructed, insightful and logical deconstruction of the game, using your two decades experience at the very top level to aid you. let’s hope TH14 turns away from the dark side – the Robbie Savage/Alan… Read more »
Perry Groves was faster than Giroud
You would think that Henry who is currently taking his coaching badges with the club, trains with the squad and who has actually played in and won the PL, would have a slightly superior insight than yourself and the majority of fans into what Arsenal or in fact any other team may need to compete for a title. Amusingly you say that “identifying, signing and inculcating 4 players ‘directly’ into the first team would take several years and may never be successful”, then use Eddie Howe who successfully did just that last summer as an example to follow. Even more… Read more »
“identifying, signing and inculcating 4 players ‘directly’ into the first team would take several years and may never be successful.”
Erm, except for Chelsea this very season who bought Cesc, Costa, Matic, and brought back Courtoius and promptly won the league at a canter.
I’m not saying I want us to do this, nor that we could afford to, but don’t be daft. Buying 4 world class players can clearly be of great benefit to a team.
What would Dennis do?… best line I’ve heard in a long time.
I admire Henry for his football and his contributions to the club, but his opinion is a whole different matter. Some of his decisions have been suspect in my opinion; he left the Arsenal for Barcelona, something no fan would do, and he became a Sky pundit, again something no Arsenal fan would do.
I wouldn’t like to see him coach us honestly.
Buying three quality players is what Wenger needs to do if we are to push on and win the title next season. But he won’t. We have a very good squad at the moment but we are seriously deficient in three key areas: 1. Goalkeeper. Let’s face it: Szcz is finished; Wenger doesn’t love him any more. And Ospina is a decent number 2 but not a title-winning goalie. We must sign a super-quality number 1 asap. 2. Striker. I love Giroud but he’s just not world class. Will he score you 30 league goals in a season? No chance.… Read more »
Harry Kane?
Why do you think that he is a world class striker? Seriously, please expand on that.
Because the papers say he is, therefore it must be true. I’d take Giroud over Kane every day of the week. It’s one thing scoring a few tap-ins against Dynamo Bollocks on a Thursday night, another leading the line of a team with higher expectations.
I wouldn’t mind getting him purely to piss off Sp*rs. The look on their faces when Campbell moved down the road to Highbury was just priceless.
Get you English-Spanish dictionary out and look up the phrase “Tongue in cheek”.
Lengua en la mejilla, apparently. I’m not sure if that is a bit too literal, I have trouble translating idioms sometimes. My Spanish colleague thinks ‘ironico’ would probably be preferable.
fatgooner get your english dictionary and look up “go fuck yourself”.
Don’t get personal my friend, I asked an honest question. Nowhere did you suggest you were being sarcastic.
So we *do* need Harry Kane, but we don’t need an international CB? Why not throw in Michu and Demba Ba whilst you’re at it?
Who are you, and what have you done with FG???
Kane? Are you serious, man? I dont want that thicko anywhere near this club. He’s the new Francis Jeffers. He’s fucking shit.
Fatgooner, Rooney can win you things really? RVP won Manure the league bu t can you say same of Rooney? Did he win anything for England? Kane will fade after two seasons for sure, did Costa score anything close to 30 goals?
You’ve let yourself down there Fats! Shame 🙁
In fact Fats!
Stop all this predicting shit about Wenger, like YOU know what will happen!!!
You predicted (with bells and whistles) that we would beat Chelski!
and you were wrong…
Rant over, but you have annoyed me today.
Double98 for manager after Wenger and Holloway! 🙂
Le coq just laid down the law 😉
Yep,he’s my new favorite player,no nonsense on and off the pitch
“Giroud?” ejaculated Le Coq, “C’est Magnifique!”
Giroud is a person therefore you’d say ‘il est’ not what you wrote .
Our squad is in excellent shape. We have strength in depth in all positions now, lots of youth and home grown players too. After this point, it’s probably about fine-tuning the squad which will mean adding world-class players when we get the chance while selling/releasing players who no longer cut the mustard. As a club we’re in a pretty amazing position all factors considered, especially the geographical good fortune of not being in Liverpool.
Spot on. I strongly suspect there are 18 Premier League clubs who’d rather be in our position and with a young and improving squad. The big question is will we now add the few world class players required to kick us onto competing at the very top or will we stick with what we have and risk being dragged back into the battle for 4th? One thing’s for sure, City and United (and probably Liverpool) will be spending big this summer.
I really don’t think it’s always about supermarket sweep in the close season!
Thierry does, but I rekon it’s about building a team…… and as far as I can see, we are doing that very nicely thank you! COYG!
Instead of lambasting Henry’s opinion, shouldn’t we all be taking notice? He’s easily the most high profile person to have spoken so openly about it (our title hopes, progression etc) and it’s not like he has any reason to dislike us. I think there’s clout to his side suffice to say he’s right about Ozil, and possibly about Giroud, and I’m a big fan of both players.
Just because he was a great player, doesn’t mean he has great insight into building a squad. Many former players go on to give gobshite analysis.
But simply because he’s a former player shouldn’t be enough for us all, near universally anyway, to denounce his opinion as rotten and cast it aside. And simply because many other players (Owen is a particular nonce) go on to give terrible advice, it doesn’t mean every player who gives out an opinion is necessarily wrong – that would be absurd and excludes notable exceptions to the rule (Ruud Guulit, duh). What he represents to me is the best player Arsenal have ever had. Mentally, he’s superior to every striker we’ve seen and probably any striker the league has ever… Read more »
You call it gobshite, others call it fuckin A. Let’s see what Henry said we should get: 1. GK – Ospina is not a commanding keeper, like Neuer or Courtois. 2. CB – We still need another in case Kosc and/or Mert get injured. We need four proper centre backs. 3. DM – What happens if Coq gets injured? Arteta or Flamini? We are fucked, that’s what. 4. ST – Giroud is great, but not a striker like Henry who strikes fear into the hearts of opponents. What he does do is get fouled and whine a lot about it.… Read more »
We are safe if we avoid the quick fix TV pundits who see buying as a solution to every problem…we still have much untapped resources that we can still exploit.
Oh, Olivier! When are you going to stop playing games with our hearts? You know saying stuff like that is going to make us want you more. What a tease.
Unless we can get someone in the caliber of Lewandowski or Benzema (which is very unlikely), it doesn’t make any sense to replace Giroud. Even if we ignore the fact that his stats are as good as Diego Costa, who is SUPPOSEDLY the world class striker Giroud will never be, his contribution to the team in terms of hold up play, defencive work on corners and delicious flicks is often overlooked. If we’re going to buy one world class player this summer, I’d chose a keeper or a defender or even a winger over a “replacement for Giroud” all day… Read more »
I’d also argue that Benzema isn’t much of an upgrade, if any.
Costa is also a cunt of the highest order. I don’t want slime like that in an Arsenal shirt, no matter how many goals they score. I’m not saying that all of our players have to be paragons of virtue, but that we have to draw the line somewhere.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion, & how many articles do we need reminding us of what Henry said? Jheez
i guess it’s ok to for blogs to constantly criticise Theo(who’s done more for Arsenal than Giroud) but no one is allowed to criticise HFB, not even Henry? Gtfoh
Who said nobody is allowed? It’s great if people debate and discuss these points, that’s what a site like this is for. Plenty of people give me stick over my views on Walcott – but there’s no big problem is there? Some people like a certain player, others don’t. And if Thierry wants to be critical of Giroud, it’s not the end of the world. People can chat about it, I can write a blog about it, what’s the issue? It’s not as if people are suggest he’s the biggest cunt ever (some people on Facebook are, in fairness, but that’s… Read more »
The only point i’d make Blogs is that Henry didn’t only say that Giroud isn’t good enough to win Arsenal titles. He also said that he was performing very well and the single real critical comment about league titles (which he might well now regret making) was made in the context of a pretty positive opinion overall. People can think what they like of the league titles opinion but it’s slightly unfair on Henry for his one critical comment to be taken out of context.
“Theo who’s done more for Arsenal than Giroud” !!!!!!!!!!
What colour is the sky on your planet, Glory Hunter? 😉
“Thierry Henry is wrong” … shows his overall confidence and felt like he is beginning to feel at home with this team. I would not know why punditry has become so shite these days… I feel like tuning into the game exactly at match time with all the crap going on.
All Henry said is we wont won the title with just Giroud leading the line and we need another top striker which dose not seem to far off the mark. Look what happened in the first half of the season when Giroud was out we found it hard to score so if we had another top striker and rotate them more we would be a lot closer to the top of the league. And also i totally agree about the Ozil and Fab statement i would have sold Ozil to get FAB back again.
When are people going to realise just how good Ozil is!?
Even the cunt Maureen knows it!
…and Maureen was looking on, very jealously at our Alexis!
COYG!
Agree about Giroud, not so much about Ozil. Ozil is our best player, and I am including Sanchez in that. It’s just that nobody knows it yet because he is such a ninja.
Eh, Ozil is impressing lately but his assists and goals are not stellar -and please don’t trot out the argument that he contributes in other ways. That said we really don’t need much, even if Walcott goes I don’t think we would need to replace him, we’ve got Ox and Welbeck. A top goalkeeper and maybe someone like Pogba would do it for me. If we could buy an Aguero why not -but I don’t see that kind of striker being available. and…I’d take Harry Kane in a second, 20 league goals since November and 30 in all competitions is… Read more »
Gary Neville has suffered the same type of critizism from United fans, that was slagging off United way to hard when he started out. I think they do this to distance themselfs from the club they so obviously support. Henry would never be credible for the neutral if he talked about how great Arsenal were every single week. I’ve never listened to Michael Owen’s punditry, but I’ve understood that’s what he does, way too supportive of Liverpool (apart from being an apparent idiot in all other departments as well). That being said, the timing of Henrys comment is as wrong… Read more »
I think Henry wasn’t being completely deregatory of Oliver Giroud, I think he was talking about winning in these massive massive games where the smallest of margins often win a game, I’m in no way discrediting the HFBs record against the big teams this yr, he’s really stepped up. I think Thierry feels we need an alternative, not replacement, to giroud, someone who can do what he used to do for us (though he was a once in a generation player) and dictate the outcome of the biggest games almost by themselves and produce that moment of magic. Let’s not… Read more »
I must admit i was quite surprised by Thierry’s comment on Giroud, but when i watched the footage, for me, it wasnt as negative or controversial as some of the media commentators are making it out to be. Personally, i am a Giroud fan and one of those that believes he is getting better every season and we certainly havent seen the best of him yet…..he definitely has more to give. On the other hand, i have no problem with either buying quality players……or promoting promising youngsters, or both?….. to improve the squad. I am one of those that believe… Read more »
Good to see that someone else has actually watched what Henry said rather than going on what’s been reported. It was actually a pretty balanced opinion on Giroud – Henry said a lot of positive things about him and gave one mildly negative opinion. The hysteria is once again over the top – anyone would’ve suspected he’d called Chelsea boring…
Who is this mystical £30 million striker everyone wants? seriously, who’s out there? Cavani? No. Falcao? Fuck no. Benzema? for the price Madrid would demand, is he really that much better than Olivier? I see some people suggest players like Mattia Destro and the likes. No thanks. This guy plays in the Serie A, and even if he was to turn into a top player there’d likely be a 1/2 year integration period. We have a very good striker in Giroud. I don’t think he needs replacing. I do however think there is room for another 15 goal a year… Read more »
Lacazette is the obvious flavor of the month. Offers something different to Giroud, realistically buyable since he plays in a 2nd tier league (no disrespect intended to League 1, talking more about finances than anything else), has the french connection going, and probably it’s a little too soon for the other big clubs to offer him a salary we can’t compete with. Not saying he’s the solution to all our problems – there’s big risk any time you sign someone who’s really only had one breakout season and has only played in one league. But he does tick most of… Read more »
Henry is wrong on the giroud assertion.How many goals have Costa scored? yet they’ll win the league.
Possibly, but I think it’s a bit more complex than that. For example, Costa has pace which can cause panic in defences like Giroud can’t. Costa can run the channels, push defences back and create more room for the creative players who can then win titles.
Suprised to hear such shitty comments coming out of Henry. It would seem he’s forgotten that before joining us, he wasn’t a “big money” player. Oh well, he’s only human after all.
Did you actually listen to all of what he said on Sunday? One mildly critical opinion on Giroud, lots of very positive opinions too and now he’s forgotten his roots blah blah. Hypersensitive and melodramatic nonsense.
yeah but the point is that his one mildly negative comment was straight up incorrect. If Montpellier can win the title with Giroud ..we can too.
Unfortunately it seems despite the massive hype around sky sports for the legend . He is a average to poor pundit.
He was giving an opinion, not making a statement of fact. You can agree or disagree with Henry’s opinion but he was clearly making it with reference to Arsenal winning the league and the only fact in that regard is that Giroud has not won a league with Arsenal to date. I hope he proves Henry wrong!
If Thierry could also do us a favor and point out the player(s) who can be an improvement to our HFB, and who could be a realistic target, that would be great. Isn’t it. Personally feel there aren’t many out in the market who Arsenal can approach and make a transfer happen. He could be right. But, realistically speaking, not possible. Remember, Alexis, Ozil, Ramsey, Giroud haven’t played together for many games. We all could notice the improvement for the past several games when they all play together.
He’s simply said that in his opinion Giroud isn’t the quality of striker that will deliver you titles, not that he thinks there’s an abundance of available strikers who will. There’s only one way for Giroud (and Wenger) to prove Henry wrong on that isn’t there?
I was suprised by Thierry comment on that day. He has the right to criticize/comment but he can’t underestimate giroud that way. Giroud is not shit. He scored for us against big club in big game like city, liverpool, fa cup etc etc. Some player might need some time to settled in in new surrounding, new league. And for me, maybe the 1st & 2nd year of giroud with us was his struggling year with the pl. We had been criticized a lot for the last couple of season & this season (even on our good run people still criticized), let’s… Read more »
Oh for fuck’s sake let this go! how many times have fans come here to say ramsey is better than messi one week then come back the next week to say he’s worse than the spuds squad?
More than anything, this just proves that henry is an arsenal fan who is ruled by his emotions towards the club.
on the ozil/fabregas issue, there’s no doubt ozil is the better player but is he the better player for the premier league? a league where a leg-breaker is a yellow card say nothing of shoving.
while we all are entitled to our opinions, it is the manner which Henry described Giroud’s contribution. TH has trained with him during his fitness programme so he would know what Giroud is capable off, so am only disappointed with the delivery. I am not prepared to think it was lost in translation because he’s quite fluent in the language. he would also be aware of how Giroud might be sensitive to such remarks especially from a player he looked up to. I am also wont say it was taken out of context. that said, I am prepared though to… Read more »
I’m pretty sure Giroud could be a 20 goals a season striker if he took penalties. I think we already have 7 this season.
I’m even more sure he could have been a 20 goal striker this season if he hadn’t spent nearly four months out with a broken leg.
On balance we have a very balanced squad now (arguably deeper than Chelsea’s) with plenty of potential mixed in with experience in all departments. Likely this summer we will be adding quality over quantity : CF – Giroud, Welbeck (Sanogo) RW – {Walcott}, Ox (Campbell) LW – Alexis, Gnabry (Akpom) AM – Ozil, Santi, {Rosicky} CM – Ramsey, Jack (Bielik) (Zelalem) DM – Coquelin, Flamini, {Arteta} RB – Bellerin, Debuchy CB – Per, CB – Koscielny, Gabriel LB – Monreal, Gibbs GK – Ospina, Szsc Players likely to be leaving IMO – Rosicky, Arteta (age), Podolski, Walcott (Contract) Also to… Read more »
So basically what you’re saying is we should sign a striker?
In the time that it took me to read this comment/article I grew a beard.
Giroud’s song and good looks make him world class imo!